King Winter

A free download from www.dertz.in

The Project Gutenberg EBook of King Winter, by Anonymous
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: King Winter
Author: Anonymous
Release Date: February 13, 2006 [EBook #17764]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KING
WINTER ***
Produced by Jason Isbell, Jeroen van Luin, Irma Špehar and
the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net

[Transcribers note: This project has some lovely illustrations that are
best enjoyed by viewing the HTML edition.]
King Winter
Published by
Gustav W. Seitz
Hamburg.
ENTP at Stationer's Hall
[Illustration]
The sky is dull and grey,
Piercing and chill the blast,
Each step
resounds on the frosty ground,
Winter is come at last.

Mamma sits by the fire
Her little ones round her knees.
"How cosy
we are, Mamma," they cry,
"Tell us something, if you please."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"Tell us about King Winter,
And about Jack Frost, his man;
We'll
not be noisy or naughty at all,
But as good as ever we can."

"Well then;" says mamma, "you, Jenny,
May knit and listen, my dear;

And Johnny may split up wood, to make
The fire burn bright and
clear."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
King Winter dwells in the North;
Far away in the Frozen Zone,
In a
palace of snow he holds his court,
And sits on an icy throne.

He has cushions of course: his Queen
Made them out of her wedding
gown.
Stuffing them well with snowflakes fine,
And soft as
eiderdown.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The King has a trusty servant,
Jack Frost is his name; his nose
Is
raspberry red, his beard is white,
And stiff as a crutch it grows.

Old Jack is a sturdy good fellow,
And serves their Majesties well;

He's here and he's there, and he's everywhere,
And does more than I
can tell.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Each year, as the day comes round,
The king and his royal train
Set
off on a tour through the wide wide world,
And sweep over mountain
and plain.

His Majesty fails not to visit
Every clime that's not too hot,
To look
in upon both high and low,
From the palace down to the cot.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Jack Frost has a busy time then,
But he's helped and advised by the
Queen,
That all may be right when the King goes forth,
And
everything fit to be seen.

That the King may have pleasant travel,
And no stone hurt his royal
toe,
Her Majesty spreads all over the earth,
A carpet of downy
snow.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Fine mirrors the King delights in:
None are finer than Jack can make:

And in matchless sheets of crystal clear
He lays them on river and
lake.

The trees, all naked and drear,
He robes in the purest white,
And
with icicles shining with rainbow hues,
He makes their branches
bright.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
And for want of buds and blossoms
To strew in his Majesty's way,

With magic flowers of his own device
He makes the windows gay.

These wonders wrought in a single night
May well excite surprise;

Amazed is the sun when he gets up at dawn,
And he stares with all
his eyes.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Then out come all the boys and girls,
Jack's handiwork to view,

And their noses and cheeks turn red with cold,
Some of them even
turn blue.

They pelt each other with snow,
Roll it up in a mighty ball,
And
shout and laugh and scamper about,
And heels over head they fall.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
They make a huge man of snow,
As grand as a Russian Czar,
A
wooden sword in his hand, in his mouth,
A carrot to serve for cigar.

His eyes, his hair, and his beard,
They paint as black as my shoe

With burnt stick, but they spoil his nose,
For they stick it rather
askew.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Then what do you think? For a cockshot
They take him; they pelt him
and hit;
They knock of the snowman's ears and nose,
But he does
not mind it a bit.

Hurrah! for the good thick ice.
Oh! isn't it jolly? They slide,
They
skate, and in sleighs so fine they go,
And swift as the wind they glide.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
King Winter laughs at the sport,
Cries "Bravo!" and claps his hands,

And calling in haste for his man, Jack Frost,
He gives him these
commands:

"Go see the papas and mammas,
And bring me word what they say:

Have the children been good and well behaved,
Since last I came
this way?"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The King trims Christmas trees,
To give to good girls and boys,

With tapers and trinkets of silver and gold,
And all sorts of dainties

and toys.

The Queen cuts twigs of birch,
Of birch so supple and keen,
And
daintily ties them up into rods
The finest that ever were seen.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Soon with this word to the King
Jack Frost comes back at a trot:

"Good have most of the